Princeton senior center encourages older adults to live with a purpose

File PhotoTwo elderly ladies leave the Princeton Shopping Center with a new broom. The shopping center is one of the destinations included on the new Daytime FreeB bus route.

After a 32-year career in international arbitration law, some people might have settled down to enjoy a low-key retirement.

Not Dana Freyer, who stepped down from her post as partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York City in 2010. She devotes her full attention to her real passion, a nonprofit organization she co-founded and chairs that has helped more than 25,000 Afghan farmers restore their land and rebuild their communities.

“Whether it’s our local community or hundreds of miles away, we all have resources and networks to do whatever we are passionate about,” Freyer told more than 100 community members at the Princeton Senior Resource Center’s (PSRC) “Living With Purpose” event Friday. The event encouraged older adults to see the “encore” stage of life as a chance to reinvent themselves and find ways to make a difference.

Susan Hoskins, PSRC executive director, said the center turned to the idea of “encore careers” when looking for ways to reach out to a generation of Baby Boomers who, after decades in the work force, felt lost when told it was time to retire.

“This is a time of life when people are realizing they can do more,” said Dick Goldberg, national director of Coming of Age, a Philadelphia-based initiative founded on what was, at the time of its launch in 2002, a new idea: that people older than 50 are a “woefully underutilized” resource in their communities.

Freyer, Mindy Fullilove and Barry Zuckerman, all social entrepreneurs, shared their stories and advice with others looking to reinvent themselves after retirement.

In 2010, Freyer won the Purpose Prize, which every year recognizes individuals older than age 60 who are tackling challenging social issues. The prize, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the Atlantic Philanthropies, comes with an award of $100,000.

After a career as a research psychiatrist and professor, Fullilove worked with residents in her hometown of Orange to found the University of Orange, a free school promoting civic engagement, where residents can learn from and teach each other.

Zuckerman, who founded the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership in Boston, encouraged audience members to use their life experience to confront problems with solutions that are simple, but an impact that is big.

“When you see a problem, instead of thinking about how terrible it is, think what you can do to fix it,” Zuckerman said.

Audience members including Alyce Hreha found the stories about Purpose Prize winners inspiring. Even though her career as a conservation botanist is winding down, the Trenton resident said she’s “just hitting the two-thirds mark in life.”

“It’s as though I had all these balls in the air, and suddenly nothing,” Hreha said. “I don’t want to retire, now I’m looking for something new.”

To turn that inspiration into action, representatives from PSRC’s Next Step program, Princeton University’s Alumni Corps and a Central New Jersey-based nonprofit organization called Volunteer Connect discussed opportunities for audience members to get involved. All three organizations have programs to match older adults with local nonprofit organizations eager to capitalize on their experience.

Though many envision volunteer work as “stuffing envelopes or helping out at a one-time event,” Klein said organizations are increasingly in need of people with professional skills, especially after the recession tightened budgets. That’s good for volunteers, too, she said. “People like sharing what they’re good at.”

“We’ve heard so much about how we’ll be a drain on the health-care system, on Social Security,” Goldberg said. “This is a way of showing how we can really contribute.”